SHERBROOKE – Pauline Marois and her Parti Québécois are in panic mode and their weekend attack on Quebec’s chief electoral officer was a “grotesque” attempt at intimidation, the leader of the Quebec Liberal party said Monday.

“It’s like someone swimming who is trying to desperately cling to whatever comes around him or her,” Philippe Couillard said at a campaign stop in Sherbrooke. “They said, ‘Let’s exploit this and frighten people with something that is threatening us as Quebecers.’

“It’s a sideshow in a succession of sideshows that is only designed to divide Quebecers and put them in a mindset where they feel they can have a referendum.”

The PQ’s assertion that an unusual number of ineligible voters were trying to register for the April 7 vote turned out to be false, Couillard said.

The issue of student involvement in politics is obviously one fraught with danger.

A little over a year ago, Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois was pleased to join angry students as they defied police in the streets of Montreal, where she enthusiastically banged away at a pot in support of their refusal to pay for their own education.

He said it was “sad” that Justice Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud would ask an independent election officer to provide daily reports on voter registration and to conduct post-registration investigations in “problematic ridings.”

Chief Electoral Officer Jacques Drouin told Radio-Canada Sunday that he didn’t intend to comply with the request and said that in fact, the number of voters added in this election is lower in two of the three ridings in question compared to 2012.

Drouin said his office had been given incorrect information from a political party, which he would not name.

The ridings in question were Sainte-Marie—Saint-Jacques, Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne and Westmount—Saint-Louis.

The Parti Quebecois is backtracking on the allegations, but Marois is defending the party’s decision to raise questions about alleged irregularities in voter registration that surfaced in the media and have been proven unfounded.

Marois said Monday the PQ was duty bound to raise the issue with Elections Quebec once the allegations were made.

Several university students reported having trouble trying to register and were told they had to prove their intention to stay in Quebec. Aside from being 18 and a Canadian citizen, many were told to produce a Quebec driver’s licence, Quebec health-care card or an income-tax return.

“I think the behaviour of the PQ was grotesque, totally inappropriate to literally intimidate the independent electoral officer for something that is now being demonstrated to be a totally deflated balloon,” Couillard said. “It shows signs of panic in their ranks.”

Addressing reporters in a hardware store, Couillard announced a tax credit for people renovating their principal residence before the start of 2017. A maximum credit of $2,500 will be allowed for all renovations, including those to accommodate an elderly person or someone with a handicap.

The tax credit for energy-efficient renovations, such as new windows, will be extended beyond its October 2014 expiry date, Couillard said. The minimum amount spent on renovations to be eligible for the credit is $3,000 and receipts must be provided in order to avoid work being done tax-free, he said.